“That’s a side effect of the happiness level decaying in this world.”
“What?!”
I’d lost how count of how many surprises that made...
“I’ve been saying ‘happiness levels’ and such to make it easier to understand, but in reality, we’re talking about an energy that moves the world along its proper path. In a positive direction, you could say. Losing that energy means losing momentum, and the world stagnates or takes a negative turn.”
“So that’s how you ended up living in a wasteland?”
“That’s right. The lack of positive energy has had effects all over the world. Really, things here in Japan aren’t so bad. There are some countries that are completely uninhabitable now.”
“...”
Based on what I was hearing, the situation was a lot more dire than I had imagined. Countries where no one could live? Just how much of the planet was barren rock and sand now? And we were just talking about mirror Earth here. What was the damage on the scale of the solar system, or even the universe? I had to wonder how far the destruction went. But as my thoughts turned dark, R tugged on my sleeve.
“I have several questions I’d like to ask. Will you relay them for me, Rekka?”
“Oh, sure,” I agreed. “Yuuhi, R says she has some questions for you. Is that okay?”
“What are they?” Yuuhi asked, seemingly receptive.
“Earlier, you said this world lost most of its Namidare power, but you still possess yours, don’t you?” I asked, repeating R’s question for her.
“What I possess is basically the gathered scraps of the power left in this world. It’s just barely enough for me to call myself a Namidare.”
“I see. Next, what did Maine do with the Namidare power she acquired from Sith?”
Once again, I parroted R’s question for Yuuhi.
“You can pretty much guess, can’t you?” she replied.
Nope. I was totally in the dark. R, however...
“So that’s what it is,” she said with a knowing nod.
Both girls then looked at me.
“H-Hey, I don’t know what’s going on...”
“No one’s looking to you for an answer,” R scoffed.
“Then what is it?”
“This means,” R said casually, “that you possess the Namidare power from Sith’s world.”
“Excuse me?”
“Maine took the Namidare power from Sith’s world and stuffed it into her own. That means, presumably, that it all ended up with the current Namidare. In other words... You.”
“...”
This time, I didn’t even have words. I was left completely speechless. But when I thought about it... I did remember my dad saying something about how I’d gotten caught up in stories at an abnormally high rate. The doctor had also mentioned that I was “a remarkable case” or some such.
“So I’ve gotten caught up in stories so rapidly because of that? Because of the extra Namidare power I have?” I muttered.
“That’s right,” Yuuhi said with a nod and a somewhat pained expression.
No wonder Yuuhi was upset talking about this.
The Namidare power had been stolen from this world, sending it spiraling toward its doom... If I had that stolen power, I could understand why Yuuhi was mad.
“I see. I understand now. But there’s another possibility,” said R.
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“Touko Iwazu,” she replied flatly. “The power of words she possesses is extremely similar to the fate-altering power Yuuhi mentioned. Really, it’s far more direct than the Namidare version. It’s possible she’s the inheritor of the excess Namidare power from Sith’s world.”
“Yeah, I guess she could be.”
Touko’s power was incredible. She could change the world with mere words. Surely she had the power to correct calamity too, but I looked to Yuuhi for confirmation.
“No, Touko Iwazu’s power is simply a glitch.”
“A glitch?”
“You could say it was an unintended result of messing around in the sandbox game... Kind of like the alchemist’s homunculus.”
Apparently, the perfect homunculus surpassed its creator in intelligence. It was created by man, but outperformed him. Touko was similarly overpowered.
“Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say she surpasses the goddesses, but her power is extremely close to reaching divine levels. That’s why I hoped...”
“Hoped what?”
“I hoped that perhaps I could use her power to take back my world’s Namidare power from you.”
“Is that why she’s the only one of the everyday heroines you kidnapped?”
“I kidnapped her in order to copy her power with the Doppel Stone. The attack on your hometown was just a front, really,” Yuuhi sighed. “But her disappearance is what alerted your guardian to my interference.”
“...”
That got me thinking.
“Say, Yuuhi...”
“What?”
“You came to the past in order to abduct the heroines, right?”
“Of course. I couldn’t leave that job to anyone else.”
“Then is there any chance you intended on retrieving L and taking her back to the future with you too?”
“!”
R looked between me and Yuuhi with a gasp.
“L had a weird conversation with one of the robot pilots that didn’t make sense to me. L didn’t know about the attack, and the pilot was confused that she was helping me out. That’s been bugging me this whole time.”
When she and I first had our standoff in the basement of the extremists’ hideout, Yuuhi said something about L betraying her and becoming a heroine. But if that was the case, then the pilot’s reaction to L didn’t really make sense. I could connect the dots, however, if Yuuhi had meant to collect L as part of her plan.
“Well?”
“Yeah... You’re right,” Yuuhi admitted reluctantly, awkwardly looking away. “I was the only one aware that L had become a heroine. And because I knew that, I knew there was a possibility she’d sell us out if she was informed of the attack ahead of time. That’s why I was going to nab her and bring her back to the future by force, but...”
“But?”
“Your guardian was onto me the moment Touko disappeared, so I couldn’t touch any of the other everyday heroines. L somehow ended up in that category, and thusly eluded my grasp.”
“I see... So that’s how it happened,” R murmured with a smug nod.
Apparently the measures R had taken to protect the everyday heroines was what had resulted in L being functionally abandoned by the extremists. The only thing I could say to that was...
“Yuuhi, when this is all over, I need you to explain that to L. It’d be a sad story if you didn’t.”
“Yeah...” she said with a small nod.
There, our long conversation drew to a quiet end.
“I guess I’ll go take that shower now.”
I’d gotten pretty much all of the answers I needed for now. All that was left was to prepare for the divine trial in the morning.